on the mountain with Juno

Last week I went up Table Mountain for lunch with the Shillington/Grimsrud/Kusler families. It was a seriously beautiful summer day in Cape Town.

It was also hot as heck. Very hot and very sunny. Sunburn central.

Anyhoo, before too long it was nap time for Juno but at midday on top of the mountain there wasn't much in the way of shade. Her parents, being the resourceful folks they are, made a plan.

She slept like a baby, which luckily comes naturally. After lunch Junerific entertained us with her new funny faces and fledgling straw skills.

Love that face at the end!

Happy Halloween

Halloween isn't a big deal here, which is a bit of a bummer. I didn't even bother buying candy as we almost certainly won't have trick-or-treaters. This year, however, I managed to get my fix by helping to sew a Halloween costume with my friend Anna for her little girl Juno. Anna, being North American, understands the awesomeness of the holiday and Juno played along wonderfully for her photo shoot.

Isn't she the sweetest little mermaid?

wildflowers

This weekend we ventured out of the city to Darling to catch a glimpse of the wildflowers. We packed a picnic and hoped for a leisurely afternoon in the sun. We didn't quite get that. The flowers were great, but it was BUGGY. A zillion little gnat-like things swarmed us immediately. It was a race to see if we could finish our sandwiches without ingesting a dozen or more of the little suckers. So no lingering among the flowers, but they were lovely to spend a bit of time (and as a consolation prize we went to Groote Post for a wine tasting).

In fashion news, I have two items to report:
1. My darlingest niece is now borrowing my clothes. She only needs about another ten years to fit into them.

2. We babysat our favorite neighbor's super wonderful little girl Juno. We dressed her up like a Mexican. It was awesome.

Hannah turns one

Our wonderful little niece, and my peach of a goddaughter, turned one on the 14th. It has been so special to be around her for the last year and watch her grow from a baby into a running, laughing, smiling little girl.

Hannah's birthday cake was a collaborative family effort and turned out fantastic and mighty delicious.

Hannah definitely agrees with the "delicious" part!

the Northern Hemisphere trip

** Sorry for the technical difficulties- YouTube didn't approve of my original musical accompaniment. It should work now!**

We got back from our epic Northern Hemisphere whirlwind trip about a week and a half ago and we are still glowing from all the fun...and finally not jet-lagged. I had just over three weeks of family time, friend time, birthday time (hello 30!) and treat time with some favorite American delicacies (hush puppies! Carolina BBQ! Reese's peanut butter cups! bagels!). Big B was gone a bit longer what with his trip to Brown University (a total success by the way). Our return wasn't the smoothest- more in a later post- but it is great to back home in Cape Town, enjoying the beautiful weather, catching up with friends and family, and setting our sights on spring.

There was just too much goodness to share conventional blog style so instead here is the under four minute highlight reel! Enjoy!!

happy days

Four years ago today I went on a date with a really handsome guy I met on the first night of tango class. It was an icy sub-zero day in New Haven. We had Thai food. Later that evening we drank rooibos tea and I was introduced to Johnny Clegg. We saw each other the next day, and the next day, and the day after that. It was bliss then and it still is.


Our days of late have been very full and happy in other ways too. We've spent a few glorious days on the beach, my new favorite of which is Llandudno though we've spent a fair bit of time in Fish Hoek too.


We went for a sunset walk along Hout Bay beach, watching the mountain change colors and the clouds roll in.


Afterward we had a drink at a bar on the beach and watched the full moon rise. Our chairs were in the sand and we could kick our feet up and relax.


There has been loads of family time as well. We've had more time with this little cutie and his brother. I have a great video of James and Brendan that I will figure out how to post and get up here soon.



There was a gathering of all the M-B sibs, their partners, and their kiddies (I'm glad Ant & Kate have two so I could have someone to hold!).


And now we have B's cousin Kate and her husband James here. On Sunday we packed a picnic and parked off at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for one of their summer concerts.



Sadly the Nepal training has been a bit back-burnered because of my broken toe. I think it is nearly better enough to start hiking and we will hopefully recommence soon. In the mean time, Brendan has been harassing me (I think he would say he is strongly encouraging me) to do wall squats to increase leg strength. I decided that I would do them when Parker did.


While his form leaves something to be desired, I guess this means I need to start doing wall squats. Dang.

african shirts

Before Bluebell came into my life and freed me to roam the streets of Cape Town, I spent some of my free time making shirts of a whole bunch of people I love. Spoiler alert for my aunt Cathi: don't show this to the kiddos because their shirts are still en route.

I made one for Brendan

One for Hannah

One for Wyatt and one for Cassidy (in their favorite color schemes)

And a matching set for each of my favorite little meerkittens, James and Matthew

I also made one ages ago for my cousin Nolan, but I forget to get a picture of it...doh!

They are made using this stuff called fusible webbing, which crafty people like my friend Krissy use for making appliques and the like. It irons on for a permanent transfer and is machine washable and dry-able. I am clearly embracing my new homeland, at least when it comes to attire!

potpourri

'Potpourri' was always my favorite category on Jeopardy. I love Jeopardy. It is the only thing I've missed in the couple years we haven't owned a television. If anyone wants to copy and send me episodes, that would be awesome!

Anyway, here's a medley of the happenings in the last little while.

Brendan taking a photo of Hannah. The big camera next to the little baby cracks me up. It is almost like he is on safari and is stalking a her for a cool photo.

Parker, parking off. He leaves no mantle un-sat upon.

Our friends Candice and Warren came over for supper and I made one of my all time favorite things: Lebanese stuffed eggplant. Delish!

On Sue's last day in town we took a ride to the Zevenwacht wine farm for lunch. It was a gorgeous hot day, made even better by great company and cold white wine. 

Calla (or arum, depending on where you are from) lilies were everywhere. Oh, and we saw a mongoose too. Very awesome.

On one of our walks we came across this here dung beetle, and it made me think of my brother Daniel. We have this thing where we call each other 'dung roller'. Dan even addressed our wedding present to Mr and Mrs Dung Roller (sorry Brendan). While it may not appear as such to the outsider, this is very much a loving nickname. 

And then there is this handsome fellow. Here's Brendan in the act of making the bank transfer to buy our new car! This is far and away the most expensive thing either of us has ever purchased, and we thought we might need for adult diapers to get through it all. But the new car is a matter for a whole other blog post...

incommunicado

First off, thanks to everyone who has posted lovely comments, sent emails, called, and otherwise shown some love. We had a wobbly transition period into our new home due to some problems with the alarm system and needing to organize pre-scheduled work with some repair men and painters. Nothing major, but such things delay the process of making someone else's house feel like your home. To top it off, we have no internet at home currently and have been feeling a little too out of communication and cut off from the world for our tastes. Soon all this will be resolved and you won't be able to make us shut our pie holes. Consider yourself warned. 

Despite the housing hiccups, the last few days have been plenty full of good times. 

We moved in officially on Monday, but by Tuesday morning had no bowls, spoons, etc unpacked for morning breakfast. So Brendan got creative with his raisin bran. We are now much more settled and have graduated beyond such rustic modes of consumption. Last night we ate a delish vegetable risotto on real plates with real forks and had a glass of our wedding wine in real wine glasses. And this was in front of our first fire in our fireplace. It was all very charming and wonderful.

Parky-pants is settling into his new digs as well. In his prissier moments, he fancies himself as a striking mantelpiece decoration.

 

In moments of relaxation, he makes himself one with the arm of the sofa (this is a classic Parker maneuver, and I'm happy to see it is intercontinentally transferable).

We went on our first real date in Cape Town to Bella Lucia, a darling little restaurant in our neighborhood of Wynberg. 

The food was inspirational: lamb and chickpea stew, pasta rolls filled with butternut and goat cheese topped with arugula, pine nuts, parmesan, and brown butter, and amarula panacotta with carmelized naartjies (a South African tangerine). Heaven.

I've also started my driving lessons. 

It was largely uneventful- a few stalls, a few exasperated drivers stuck behind me, crazy South African taxi drivers giving me heart palpitations...the usual. I did, however, hit a curb at the end of my two hour lesson and managed to scuff the hubcaps on my instructor's brand new teaching car. Oops. She should be thankful that was the worst of my offenses. I am still finding having to make space in my brain to think about a clutch rather exhausting and will continue to fight the good fight toward investing in a manual transmission vehicle. Any support given would be greatly accepted :) 

An then, of course, there is sweet little Hannah.

I think this is probably the best note to end on.

a wonderful surprise

I anticipated a weekend recap posting full of nice but relatively low-key stories of a haircut, moving into our new place, lunches and dinners with friends. Very happily, one special event has superseded that. Yesterday, we became aunt and uncle to our first niece.

Little Hannah Susan Crede is tiny and lovely and we are eager to get back to the hospital to visit her again today.  Sarah is recovering well, and she and Andreas are understandably thrilled with their job well done. Brace yourself, folks, because you'll no doubt be seeing a lot of this little lady in the upcoming months and years!

final stop on the farewell tour!

This past weekend we were in Northern Virginia for roommate reunion+ (we've added the plus, because now in addition to the roommates there are partners and babies). Our agenda was packed: roommate birthday party for Cecily and me, getting to meet and snuggle Callie and Maddy, and lots and lots of time for girl talk.

Birthday girls and birthday cupcakes from Heidelberg Bakery. Megan's gift was an in-flight entertainment package (snacks, a game, a book, and lots of magazines). 

Happy new dads (Kyle with Maddy on left; Dave with Callie on right). 

And the lovely new moms, Megan and Jen. 

They are such sweet little pumpkins. 

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends in our lives. Thank heavens for Skype, because otherwise the goodbyes would have been much harder (i.e. I would have cried all the way back home, rather than just crying all the way to Maryland).